Nostr Web Client

Been seeing many people seeking for privacy oriented OS for phones. For me there are 3 main options in the market #grepheneos, #calyxos and #lineageos. You should also be concerned with your desktop and router os, too... I won't write all here, but rather recommend you seek guidance in these sources:

anonymousplanet.org

thenewoil.org

privacyguides.org

Be careful not to freak out and determine your threat model right. Most of us just want to escape web tracking and minimal privacy/anonymity.

#usethetools

#grownostr

MetropleX [GrapheneOS] ⚡🟣 2y ago

Thankyou for mentioning GrapheneOS, appreciate that.

While what people use is their prerogative, if you are looking at the OSes due to being concerned about security/privacy and that being a focus of your decision making, the following should be taken into account.

GrapheneOS and CalyxOS/LineageOS are much different. GrapheneOS is a hardened OS with substantial privacy and security improvements:

https://grapheneos.org/features

CalyxOS/LineageOS are not hardened OS, substantially reduces security. CalyxOS recently went 2 months not shipping standard security patches.

Compatibility with Android apps on GrapheneOS is also much different. GrapheneOS provides our sandboxed Google Play compatibility layer:

https://grapheneos.org/usage#sandboxed-google-play

Can run the vast majority of Play Store apps on GrapheneOS, but not CalyxOS/LineageOS with the problematic microG approach.

CalyxOS is closer to LineageOS they both share the same issue above and they both always use multiple Google services too while giving them privileged access even if users don't use microG. It would be wrong to imply they don't use Google services. microG is of course an implementation of Google services. GrapheneOS doesn't use Google services by default.

To clarify further they always use Google services even without microG. They use Google for connectivity checks, network time, attestation key provisioning, SUPL, DNS fallback (LineageOS only), PSDS (Pixel 6 and 7), eSIM activation and more enabled by default.

https://blog.privacyguides.org/2022/04/21/grapheneos-or-calyxos/ is a 3rd party article explaining some of the substantial differences between GrapheneOS and CalyxOS. It's a common misconception that they're similar. CalyxOS is far more similar to LineageOS than GrapheneOS. There are many other alternate OSes available.

https://privsec.dev/posts/android/choosing-your-android-based-operating-system/ is another article about privacy and security differences between alternative Android-based operating systems.

If you have any questions/feedback though you know where I am, always happy to hear. Take care.

Reply to this note

Please Login to reply.

Discussion

Rene 2y ago

Hello! Thanks for the information and for pointing out these differences.

Despite being able to code, I'm not a developer, I consider myself a "power user".

Even though, I could not spot these details.

I think that regular users would not notice either any difference in this aspect. Tbh, for the regular user, being degoogled can be a struggle most of the time.

Now including myself, we would take the words of the ads, website, reviews when we cannot understand those technical details.

I read the articles you sent, and encourage everyone to do so and take your conclusions. Remember to keep in mind your threat model...

Unfortunately I do not have access to a Pixel atm, but when I do, I already know the path to choose.

#donttrustverify

#usethetools